Bryan Singer (X-MEN, SUPERMAN RETURNS) has been planning his re-working of classic fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk for a while now but, according to The Hollywood Reporter, he has now asked long-time collaborator Chris McQuarrie (THE USUAL SUSPECTS, VALKYRIE) to re-write the script.
Singer’s interpretation of the story will follow a young farmer being charged with the mission of leading a group of men into the giants’ kingdom to stage a dangerous rescue. Sounds like quite a departure from the original fairytale and there’s no mention of magic beans or cows called Daisy but an unique twist on things rather than a literal transition of the story is probably exactly what this adaptation needs.
Singer has been back on the project ever since he rejected the offer to direct X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, the new X-MEN film which focuses on a younger group of mutants being trained at Xavier’s institute. The script for JACK THE GIANT KILLER has been already been attempted by both Mark Bomback and Darren Lemke but now that McQuarrie is on the case it seems like things are finally heating up.
Casting for the film is set to start soon as Singer is planning to shoot JACK THE GIANT KILLER in England this summer.
Tag: JACK THE GIANT KILLER
Jack the Giant Killer starts in July
Filmonic.com points us to a ProductionWeekly.com report that director Bryan Singer (X-MEN) will start filming JACK THE GIANT KILLER in July, with shooting planned to take place in London and Iceland, for a planned 2011 release.
Singer’s involvement with JACK THE GIANT KILLER could prevent him from rejoining the X-MEN franchise, despite recent overtures from producer Lauren Shuler Donner, asking him to consider X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and/or X-MEN 4.
The original JACK THE GIANT KILLER (1962) is basically a rip-off of THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, with director (Nathan Juran), leading man (Kerwin Matthews), and villain (Torin Thatcher) reprising their respective duties in a fairy-tale fantasy. The missing ingredient is the special effects magic of Ray Harryhausen (who later went on to craft the 1981 version of CLASH OF THE TITANS, also the subject of a recent remake).